1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for a reinforced electrolyte membrane and a manufacturing apparatus of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As an electrolyte membrane that has been used for a solid polymer type fuel cell (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “fuel cell”), a reinforced electrolyte membrane that incorporates a porous reinforcement member therein has been known (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-004344 (JP 2008-004344 A) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-277288 (JP 2008-277288 A) shown below). According to a technique of JP 2008-004344 A, at a confluence of two sheets of belt-like porous reinforcement membrane that are transported to be stuck each other, an electrolyte resin is flowed in between two porous reinforcement membranes and the membranes are crimped, thus a reinforced electrolyte membrane is manufactured. According to a technique of JP 2008-277288 A, belt-like electrolyte membranes are superposed from both surfaces of a belt-like reinforcement membrane that is being conveyed and these are thermocompression bonded, thus, a reinforced electrolyte membrane is manufactured.
Now, when a belt-like member is conveyed in a longitudinal direction, so-called neck-in may occur, in which the belt-like member shrinks and deforms in a width direction when the tensile stress is imparted to the belt-like member in a conveying direction. In a manufacturing step of the reinforced electrolyte membrane, when such neck-in occurs during conveyance of the belt-like member such as the electrolyte membrane or the reinforcement member, a function of the strength of the belt-like member degrades, and endurance of the reinforced electrolyte membrane and a fuel cell that uses the reinforced electrolyte membrane are likely to degrade. If the tensile stress that is imparted to the belt-like member during conveyance is controlled to suppress the neck-in from occurring, it is likely that conveyance control becomes complicated and an apparatus becomes expensive.
Thus, in the manufacturing step of the reinforced electrolyte membrane, there was still a room for improving a conveying method of the belt-like member such as the electrolyte membrane and reinforcement member. Other than the above, in the conventional manufacturing step of the reinforced electrolyte membrane, facilitation and simplification of the step, lower cost, resource saving, miniaturization of a device, and an improvement in the handling property have been demanded.